Media Conversion From Webtoon To Television
A Case Study Of: I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday And Flower Boy Next Door.
Therese Angenberg Norin
Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies MA Thesis 60 HE credits Korean Studies MA Asian Studies (120 credits) Spring term 2018 Supervisor: Sonja Häussler
ABSTRACT Although webtoons have become one of the largest consumed media in South Korea, and many webtoons have been adapted to both film and television, there has been a lack of research on webtoon to television adaptations. This thesis will investigate the specific characteristics of the webtoon that make it suitable for television adaptation using the webtoon I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday by Yu Hyŏn Suk and the television series Flower Boy Next Door directed by Chŏng Chŏng Hwa. By using narrative structure and character analysis the two works will be compared and contrasted to discover the similarities and differences that enable a smooth media conversion. The second part of the thesis looks into what a webtoon is and how it has evolved during the years. To explore the characteristics for media conversion the webtoon and the television series were analysed both separately and compared to find the commonalities and the differences. The results indicate that using similar storytelling methods such as story-arcs play a large role in the success of webtoon to television adaptation. Both media needs to keep their viewers on their toes to make them want to read/watch further.
Keywords: South Korea, Webtoons, Televison, Adaptation, Media Conversion, Flower Boy Next Door, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday
(story-arcs)
Contents 1. Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Purpose Of Study ...... 1 1.2 Sources And Previous Research ...... 3 1.3 Methodology ...... 4 1.4 Transcription And Korean Names...... 6 2. What Is A Webtoon? ...... 7 2.1 Manhwa ...... 7 2.2 Definition And History Of The Webtoon ...... 7 2.3 The Webtoons’ Storytelling Method And Vertical Scroll Format ...... 10 3. I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday ...... 12 3.1 Introduction Of The Webtoon Artist ...... 12 3.2 Main Characters In The Webtoon ...... 12 3.3 Synopsis ...... 13 3.4 Character Analysis ...... 15 4. Flower Boy Next Door ...... 16 4.1 Introduction Of The Director ...... 16 4.2 Characters ...... 17 4.3 Synopsis ...... 18 4.4 Character Analysis ...... 19 5. Comparative Analysis Of I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday And Flower Boy Next Door ...... 22 5.1 Major Differences Between The Webtoon And The Television Series ...... 22 5.2 Differences And Similarities Between The Characters ...... 23 5.3 Comparison Between The Webtoon And The Television Series ...... 23 5.3.1 Webtoon Chapters 1-5, Television Series Episodes 1-2...... 23 5.3.2 Webtoon Chapters 10 -15, Television Series Episodes 3-5 ...... 25 5.3.3 Webtoon chapter 49, Television Series Episodes 6-14 ...... 27 5.3.4 Webtoon Chapters 52-END, Television Series Episodes 15-16 ...... 30 5.4 Flashbacks ...... 34 6. Conclusion ...... 35 7. Limitations and Further Study ...... 36 8. References ...... 38 Internet Sources ...... 39
1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose Of Study In this thesis I will analyse the webtoon I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday (Nanŭn maeil kŭrŭl humch’yŏ ponda, 나는 매일 그를 훔쳐본다) by Yu Hyŏn Suk and the television series Flower Boy Next Door (Iutchip kkonminam,이웃집 꽃미남) directed by Chŏng Chŏng Hwa.
Flower Boy Next Door was broadcasted in 2013 and was one of the first television series to be based on a webtoon. Another television series based on webtoons at the time was Mary Stayed Out All Night (2011)1 which was based on a webtoon with the same name published by Wŏn Su Yŏn on Kakao Webtoons.2 Both of the webtoons had a fairly big group of followers but the television series failed to reach the same success. Mary Stayed Out All Night had an average rating of 6.3%,3 and Flower Boy Next Door had an average rating of 1.3%.4 These ratings would seem to indicate that Mary Stayed Out All Night was much more popular than Flower Boy Next Door. But actually Mary Stayed Out All Night was broadcasted on KBS5 which is a public TV channel, whilst Flower Boy Next Door was broadcasted on TvN, a cable network. If we consider that in 2013 it was rare for cable network programming to reach over 1% in ratings, it can be concluded that in fact Flower Boy Next Door was the more popular television series of the two. Although the success of the television series Flower Boy Next Door could be measured using the official TV-network ratings, it is much harder to say how successful the webtoon was in terms of statistics. I was unable to recover any data regarding the number of hits or visits for I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day.
The initial intention of this research paper was to analyse not only the characteristics that make the webtoon suitable for television series adaptation, but also to look into the ways in
1 Sŏk Ku Hong and Yŏng Kyun Kim, “Mary Stayed out All Night (Maerinŭn Oebakchung, 매리는 외박중)” (KBS, 2011), http://www.kbs.co.kr/drama/mary. 2Su Yŏn Wŏn, Mary Stayed Out All Night (Kakao Webtoons,). https://page.kakao.com/home/46413888 ACCESSED: 2018-04-24 3 Wikipedia contributors, “Mary Me, Mary!,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, accessed March 28, 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marry_Me,_Mary!&oldid=839413161. 4 It is important to note however that the ratings found were for broadcasts both on TvN and its sister channel Onstyle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Boys_Next_Door#cite_note-15 5 Korean Broadcasting System. South Koreas leading public service broadcaster. “KBS,” n.d., http://english.kbs.co.kr/about/faq.html. 1
which writers of South Korean webtoons as well as television series’ listen to and follow the advice and opinion of their viewers and readers.
As both webtoons and television series are being produced as they are running,6 it is interesting to investigate how much the writers (of both media) pay attention and listen to the reactions and opinions of the viewers and readers. For example, usually a forum or a message board is set up on the official webpage of a television series for the viewers to comment and discuss the television series.7 And there is also a comment section/box at the bottom of each chapter of a webtoon, making it easy for fans of the webtoon to communicate with each other, and to show their appreciation to the artist.
During the research for this thesis, however, I realised that it would have been too much for a project of a Master thesis (based on the criteria for writing a Master Thesis at the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University as of 2018). However, this angle would be interesting to investigate in another research project in the future. Therefore this thesis will focus on using the above mentioned webtoon and television series to analyse the characteristics which make webtoons suitable for television series adaptation.
From October 2017 to January 2018 the Korean Manhwa Contents Agency (Komacon for short)8 and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organised an exhibition at the Korean Cultural Centre in Berlin. Several popular webtoons and webtoons were introduced at the exhibition. For the sake of this essay I visited the exhibition in December 2017. The exhibition hall was filled with introductory posters explaining what webtoons are and providing contextual information about the webtoons presented. One was able to look at several webtoons on tablets that were set up in the space. The exhibition showed webtoons that were only available in Korean but also a few that have been translated into other languages.
6 South Korean television series are very rarely pre-produced and editing for episodes just before going on air is not a rare occurrence. This is both a positive and a negative aspect of the Korean television industry. On the one hand, it means that changes can be made if the viewers’ interest is not kept, but it also causes trouble if there are delays in the filming process. Also there may occur continuity issues within the storylines. 7 Flower Boy Next Door’s official website message board. http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/14/Board/List 8 “KOMACON,” n.d., https://www.komacon.kr. 2
1.2 Sources And Previous Research Most of the previous research on webtoon adaptations has focused on the film medium. Han Chang Wan and Hong Nan Ji’s research paper “The Research of Storytelling for Converting Webtoon Into Movie”9 focused on Yun T’ae Ho’s webtoon Moss10 and discussed the webtoon’s storytelling method and why and how these methods are needed when adapting a webtoon for the film medium.
In more recent years research works that focus on webtoon and television adaptations have started to appear, however, they are still sparse. One of these research works is produced by Yi Hyŏn Jŏng (Rhee Hyunjung) and titled “User’s Response on Media Conversion from Webtoon to TV Series: A Study of Cheese in the Trap.”11 Yi discusses the viewers’ and readers’ reactions to the adaptation of the very successful and popular webtoon Cheese In The Trap12 by Sunkki (순끼).
Other research works, such as Kim Mi Ra’s “A Case Study of Cross-Media Storytelling: Remediation of Webtoon
9 Ch’an Wan Han and Nan Ji Hong, “The Research of Storytelling for Converting Webtoon Into Movie,” JOURNAL OF THE KOREA CONTENTS ASSOCIATION, February 2011. 10 T’ae Ho Yun, Moss (Ikki, 이끼) (Daum Webtoons, 2008), http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/ikki 11 Hyŏn Jŏng Yi, “User’s Response on Media Conversion from Webtoon to TV Series: A Study of Cheese in the Trap,” Academic association of global cultural contents, April 2017. 12 Sunkki, Ch’ijŭ in Tŏ t’ŭraep 치즈인더트랩 (Cheese In The Trap) (Line Webtoons, 2011). 13 Mi Ra Kim, “A Case Study of Cross-Media Storytelling : Remediation of Webtoon Misaeng to Drama Series Misaeng,” JOURNAL OF THE KOREA CONTENTS ASSOCIATION, August 2015,. 14 T’ae Ho Yun, Misaeng (미생) Daum Webtoons, 2012). http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/miseng 15 The average ratings for Misaeng were in fact 5.4% with the first episode reaching only 1.6% but the final 20th episode managed to reach 8,2% which was unprecedented for a cable network series at the time. (source: https://search.naver.com/search.naver?where=nexearch&sm=top_sug.pre&fbm=1&acr=2&acq=%EB%AF%B8 %EC%83%9D+%EC%8B%9C&qdt=0&ie=utf8&query=%EB%AF%B8%EC%83%9D+%EC%8B%9C%EC% B2%AD%EB%A5%A0) 16 Kim, “A Case Study of Cross-Media Storytelling.” 3
Ch’ae Sang Hŭi’s research paper “A Study On Media-Conversion Of Webtoon: Focusing On Analysis Of Secretly Greatly,”17 analyses the webtoon to manhwa and then film conversion of the webtoon Secretly Greatly. Her aim is to analyse the mediality of the webtoon in terms of share-characteristics and discrimination-characteristics and through those characteristics to analyse the conversion of the webtoon to film. Although Ch’ae’s focus is on the media conversion from webtoon to film just as Han and Hong’s research was, she goes further into the details which make webtoons and films different from each other and explores the different characteristics that the film and the webtoon have. She highlights both their commonalities (what she refers to as share-characteristics) and their separate characteristics (discrimination-characteristics). Using this information she compares and contrasts the effects that the webtoon’s discrimination-characteristics and the film’s discrimination-characteristics have and in which ways they can be used to overcome or even enhance certain characteristics off the webtoon that are lost in the media conversion (such as the vertical scroll format of the webtoon). 1.3 Methodology As this analysis focuses on a webtoon which is a very South Korean product, and a television series developed for and by Koreans, it is important to be aware of the fact that film adaptation theories and the film medium itself are Western product and thus there may be cultural conflicts that arise from that.
Although the field of adaptation no longer concerns only adaptations from literature to film, most of the theories that are used today are still derived from theories developed from when the norm was literature to film adaptations. Fidelity was the main criterium in the forming years of adaptation theory and many critics argued that the film medium was not able to capture the complexity of the written world in images.18 Fortunately, the question of faithfulness has largely disappeared from the field and intertextuality has become the main theory instead.19 Intertextuality (as defined by Oxford
17 Sang Hŭi Ch’ae, “A Study on Media-Conversion of Webtoon : Focusing on Analysis of Secretly Greatly,” The Korean Journal of animation 10, no. 2 (June 2014): 194–210. 18 Mark Brokenshire, “Adaptation,” The Chicago School of Media Theory (blog), accessed April 23, 2018, https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/adaptation/. 19 Bloomsbury.com, “Adaptation Theory and Criticism,” Bloomsbury Publishing, accessed April 28, 2018, https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/adaptation-theory-and-criticism-9781623560287/. 4
Dictionary of English) is the “relationship between texts, especially literary ones.”20 Linda Hutcheon points out that adaptations can be treated both as original texts and as adaptations and that labelling something an adaptation is an interpretive choice made by the observer.21
In my analysis of the webtoon I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday and the television series Flower Boy Next Door I will look mainly at the narrative structure of the two medias. As the aim of this thesis is to investigate the characteristics that make a webtoon suitable for television series adaptation (rather than adaptation for film), it is important to look into the narrative to reveal the structural similarities and differences that both the webtoon and the television medium possess.
One of the methods for analysing television series and film is mise-en-scène. Mise-en-scène refers to everything that appears on camera in a specific frame, and the arrangements of those things, such as the actors, the props, the lighting, etc.22 In the book Beginning of Film Studies Andrew Dix describes a mise-en-scène analysis as being performed when interpreting the visual specificities23 of a film. However, this view of mise-en-scène is related more to works in the theatre and fails to capture the complexity of a film analysis. Thus, a more broad and inclusive definition of mise-en-scène would be the composition of the frame. In other words, it would include all of the elements that are in the frame that the director has put there. It means to analyse all of these pieces, such as: the actors, the props, the lighting, the costumes, and the setting. What you see on your screen is always shown to you on purpose, thus mise- en-scène give an insight into the film and will be of help when constructing an analysis. Admittedly, what has been written above is generally referring more to a film analysis. When using techniques of analysis that have been more readily applied to other mediums, one has to consider the differences in the medium output and making sure that they are in fact adequate for the analysis of one’s chosen medium. Therefore, when analysing television series and webtoons this is something we have to always keep in mind.
By analysing the narrative structure and looking at the mise-en-scène of I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday and Flower Boy Next Door, my aim is to narrow down which characteristics of the webtoon have ‘survived’ into the adaptation and thus to find out why
20 Angus Stevenson, “Intertextuality,” Oxford Dictionary Of English (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.sub.su.se/view/10.1093/acref/9780199571123.001.0001/m_en_gb0418010 21 Linda Hutcheon, A Theory Of Adaptation (New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 6 22 Andrew Dix, Beginning Film Studies (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008), p.12 23 Dix.p.12 5
they have been utilised and how those characteristics can be found and reproduced in other adaptations of webtoons.
For my analysis I have found it necessary to pay particular attention to flashbacks. Although Flower Boy Next Door is not heavily filled with flashback scenes, the ones that appear in the television series are carefully placed in to explain the backstory of the main characters. Flashbacks have often been used to highlight or reveal something from the past of characters, both in printed and in visual media and have become a staple in television and film. A Dictionary To Film Studies defines flashbacks as being “a portion of a film’s narrative that is presented out of chronological order in its plot.”24
In accordance to Auteur theory the director of a film or a television series should also be considered as the author of the work. That means, even though the television series is an adaptation and it has had a separate screen writer and other people involved in the project, the director’s creative vision will leave its mark on the final product.25 Therefore it is important to note the changes that the director of Flower Boy Next Door has made with the plot and the characterisation of characters, and what consequences and effects those changes have produced.
1.4 Transcription And Korean Names This thesis will use the McCune-Reischauer romanisation of Korean words, unless there are other romanisations that are more commonly used, such as Seoul instead of Sŏul.
In the case of the romanisation of the characters’ names in I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday and Flower Boy Next Door, the romanisation used in the official English subtitles of the television series (Flower Boy Next Door) will be applied to both works to avoid any confusion regarding the character that is being discussed.
All translations are made by the thesis’ author if not otherwise stated. For the sake of clarity, the original text (or speech in case of the television series) and McCune-Reischauer romanisation will be given as well.
24 Annette Kuhn and Guy Westwell, A Dictionary Of Film Studies, 1st Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), p.184. 25 Harry M. Benshoff, Film And Television Analysis. An Introduction To Methods, Theories, And Approaches (New York: Routledge, 2016). 6
Korean names will be given in the conventional order used in Korea, i.e. family name first, given name in the second place. In those cases where an article or research paper etc. has been published in English language, the authors name will be given as it appears in the publication, and also be accompanied with the corresponding McCune-Reischauer transcription when possible.
2. What Is A Webtoon? 2.1 Manhwa Manhwa is an umbrella term for all comics in South Korea, both web-based (webtoons) and those that are printed. The first example of a Korean manhwa dates from 1909 when a satirical comic was published in one of Korea’s first newspapers.26 However, Korean manhwa did not become popular until the 1980s when they started to deal with more complex issues and stories often regarding the democratisation of the country. Before then, Korean manhwa had mainly been copying the stories and drawing style of Japanese manga.27 In the 1990s South Korea’s manhwa industry hit a slump because the consumers were losing interest due to the lack of innovation and the abundance of similar plotlines in Korean manhwa (often copied from popular Japanese manga), as well as the influx of new story material from Japan because the ban against importing Japanese cultural products had been lifted.28 Thus, when the IMF crisis hit South Korea in 1997, and the cost of paper was rising, publishers decided that instead of printing manhwa they would scan and upload manhwa to the Internet.
2.2 Definition And History Of The Webtoon Webtoon is the name used for a manhwa that is produced for and read on the Internet. Webtoon is a portmanteau. It is a newly coined word in which parts of multiple words are combined into a new word. Webtoon comes from the two words web, and cartoon.
During the past 10 years webtoons have emerged from being a mere cheap alternative to printing manhwa during the IMF crisis29 to one of the most consumed forms of popular media
26 “100 Years of Korean Comics,” The Korea Times, 2009, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2018/04/135_46093.html. ACCESSED: 2018-03-01 27 Wŏn Ho Chang and Eŭn Song Chŏng, “Webtoon as a New Korean Wave in the Process of Glocalization,” Kritika Kultura, no. 29 (2017): 20, https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/kk/article/view/KK2017.02908. 28 Chang and Chŏng. 29 The Asian Financial Crisis (commonly called the IMF crisis in South Korea) occurred throughout Asia, starting in Thailand. It affected South Korea due to excessive debts that the Chaebol, South Korean 7
in South Korea today. Due to this, it is no surprise that the South Korean television and film industry have embraced webtoons, with several live action adaptions developed from them.
Although the webtoon medium was initially created in the 1990’s, Pak Inha (as well as several other researchers on webtoons) claims in her essay “A Study on the Characteristics of Korean Webtoon,”30 that many believe that the real start of the webtoon era was on the 24th of October 2003 when Kang Full’s31 webtoon Love Story (Sunjŏng manhwa, 순정만화)32 was published on Daum. It can thus be argued that the real breakthrough for webtoons was when Love Story reached the milestone of attracting two million views in one day.33
The move from printed manhwa to webtoon was only possible because South Korea was at the forefront of internet development. This can also be seen in the music industry. Sine early on when music was still being downloaded illegally over the Internet in many countries, South Korea ensured that the music could instead be purchased legally online.34 Korea’s biggest streaming and downloading site Melon (mellon, 멜론) was launched by SK Telecom35 in November 2004, the first of its kind in the world.36
There have been distinct developments of the Webtoon over its years of existence. The appearance of the Webtoon, hereafter referred to as Generation Zero37, was little more than an exact copy of the printed manhwa: it was just scanned in and uploaded on the internet. There were no real changes in formatting from that of the printed manhwa. The first generation webtoon differs from Generation Zero as it started to utilise Flash images
conglomerates, took to finance expansions that ultimately failed. South Korea was eventually bailed out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Source: Daesik Kim and Jaeha Park, “Korean Financial Crisis and Reform: An Overview,” in International Finance Review, vol. 1 (Bingley: Emerald (MCB UP ), 2000), 79–122, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569- 3767(00)01006-2. ACCESSED: 2018-04-12 30 In Ha Pak, “A Study on the Characteristics of Korean Webtoon,” The Korean Journal Of Animation, August 2015. 31 Kang P’ul, 강풀 32 Hee Kyung Cho, “The Webtoon: A New Form for Graphic Narrative,” The Comics Journal, 2016, http://www.tcj.com/the-webtoon-a-new-form-for-graphic-narrative/. 33 Dal Yong Jin, “Digital Convergence of Korea’s Webtoons: Transmedia Storytelling,” Communication Research and Practice 1, no. 3 (July 3, 2015): 193–209, https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2015.1079150. 34 Chŏl Pak, In Kyu Kim, and Su Yŏn Chŏn, ‘The Development Strategy of K-POP through the Improvement of Digital Music Distribution in Korea’, Korea Business Review, August 2013, 35 SK Telecom is one of South Korea’s leading telecommunications company. (http://www.sktelecom.com/en/view/introduce/intro.do) 36 https://www.kakao-m.com/pages/business/melon ACCESSED: 2018-04-24 37 On the Korean Wikipedia Page on webtoons this generation is referred to as 0 시대 (0sidae) which is translated to Generation Zero. https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9B%B9%ED%88%B0. 8
and animations. Another progression was the automatization of turning the pages, as well as automatic zoom in and zoom out.
The second generation of webtoons started with the format that we are used to see today. With the advancement in LCD technology, webtoon artists were able to switch to the vertical scroll format which required a higher pixel count than what had previously been available.38 The form was popularised by Kang Full’s webtoon Love Story (Sunjŏng manhwa, 순정만화)39 published on Daum40 in 2003.
Right now, the webtoon is in its third generation and there have been no major changes in format since the second generation. Webtoon artists continue to use the scroll format which has changed slightly to be more compatible with tablets and mobile phones. This change that Naver implemented in 2012, with Daum following in 2014, meant that the scrolling method was changed for the smartphone users so that it is more convenient with the use of touch screens.41 The fourth generation of webtoons is expected to incorporate animation and sound on a larger scale than it has been done before.
The South Korean web portal Daum launched its webtoon portal in 2003 and Naver followed with their webtoon portal in 2004. These two web portals are the front runners of webtoon portals, however there are also other webtoon portals on the Internet, such as Lezhin Comics, Spottoon, Nate Webtoon, and Line Webtoon, etc.
When webtoons first started to appear on the internet, they were available to be read for free. However, in 2012 it was announced that Kang Full’s completed webtoons would be available through payment only.42 The prologue and first three chapters would remain free for view and the other chapters cost 500 KRW each. Webtoons that were not yet completed would still be available free of charge.43 Presently this system is being used on both Naver and Daum. Lezhin Comics uses a similar system. I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday is available for
38 Su Ji Yi and Bong Gwan Chŏn, “The Current Service Status and the Developmental Direction of Webtoon 2.0 : Focusing on the Changing of User Interface and the Applying of Multimedia Effects,” JOURNAL OF THE KOREA CONTENTS ASSOCIATION 15, no. 8 (August 2015): 0. 39 Cho, “The Webtoon.” 40 Daum and Naver are two of the most popular portal sites in Korea. Both Daum and Naver have their own sub- sites for reading webtoons as well as sub-sites for news, movies, music etc. 41 Yi and Chŏn, “The Current Service Status and the Developmental Direction of Webtoon 2.0.” 42 Yo Sep Song, ‘A Study On The Rise Of The Webtoon And Proposal For Further Development' Wept’unŭi Palssaeng Kwajŏng t’amsaekkwa Paljŏnŭl Wihan Cheŏn (웹툰의 발생 과정 탐색과 발전을 위한 제언), Korea Institute of Information Technology Magazine 2012.12, no. 10 (4), accessed 9 July 2018, http://www.dbpia.co.kr.resources.asiaportal.info/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE02078960. 43 Song. 9
free until chapter five (plus the prologue) and the following 49 chapters cost 200 KRW each.44
Webtoons are also spreading outside of South Korea and are starting to gain attention in the West. As has been mentioned above, there was an exhibit at the Korean Culture Centre in Berlin running from October 2017 to January 2018 where several popular webtoons and webtoon portals were introduced.
Since July of 2014 Line Webtoon45 has made translations of webtoons available in 6 different languages: English, Chinese, Thai, etc. Spottoon46 launched its international site in September of 2015 and has 1000 webtoons translated into English.
2.3 The Webtoons’ Storytelling Method And Vertical Scroll Format Among the webtoons many special characteristics is its storytelling method. Webtoons use the story arc47 method of storytelling and the majority of webtoons are told in the first-person perspective. Story arcs are sometimes referred to as narrative arcs, or alternatively as just arcs. Oxford Dictionary of English defines the term as “(in a novel, play, or film) the development or resolution of the narrative or principal theme.”48 A story arc generally contains exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. These components are created by plot and character development.49
Famous webtoon author Yun T’ae Ho50 has said that in each and every episode he makes sure that only one scene is visible on the monitor at the same time.51 This is only possible because of the webtoons shift from the traditional panelled manhwa format to the vertical scroll format.
44 http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/peekinghim#pageNo=1&sort=desc&type 45 Line Webtoon is owned by Naver Corporation. URL: http://www.webtoons.com/en 46 Spottoon was first launched in December 2014. URL: http://www.spottoon.com 47 "story arc." In Katherine Barber, “Story Arc,” The Canadian Oxford Dictionary Of English (Oxford University Press, 2005), http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.sub.su.se/view/10.1093/acref/9780195418163.001.0001/m_en_ca0067574. 48 "arc." In Oxford Dictionary of English, edited by Stevenson, Angus.: Oxford University Press, 2010. http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.sub.su.se/view/10.1093/acref/9780199571123.001.0001/m_en_gb0037630 49 Birthe Sjöberg, Dramatikanalys. En Introduktion (Stockholm: Studentlitteratur, 2005), p. 31. 50 Most notable works include Moss (2011) and Misaeng (2012). 51 Han and Hong, “The Research of Storytelling for Converting Webtoon Into Movie.” 10
As mentioned in subchapter 2.2 webtoons have been using the vertical scroll format since it was popularised by Kang Full’s webtoon Love Story (Sunjŏng manhwa, 순정만화) in 2003. The vertical scroll format can be said to be one of the webtoon’s most unique features. As Ch’ae Sanghŭi mentions in her paper,52 the scroll format enables the reader to take a more active and participating role in the story in such a way that they are able to control the pacing of the story more actively than what would be possible with a traditional panel-styled webtoon (i.e. using the same format as the manhwa is still using). This can be seen when comparing a webtoon with its manhwa counterpart.53 An example that the scroll format can enable an element of surprise is the prologue of I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day. As can be seen below in fig 154 and fig 255 what is being revealed as the reader scrolls down in the webtoon is not effectively hidden in the manhwa version as most panels can be seen at once.
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
52 Ch’ae, “A Study on Media-Conversion of Webtoon.” p.199 53 In a lot of cases webtoons are published as manhwa books after they have reached some success on the webtoon market. 54 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday, Prologue. http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/11942 55 Hyŏn Suk, Yu I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday (2013) Haksan Publishing (학산문화사), Seoul 11
The vagueness of what is a panel and what is the space in between, the vertical scroll format that allows the reader to control the pacing of the story, thus allowing the reader to follow along and become more immersed in the story these are the specific characteristics that only the webtoon has.56
3. I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday 3.1 Introduction Of The Webtoon Artist Yu Hyŏn Suk (유현숙) debuted as a Manhwa artist in 1997 when Dream was published57. She was active as a Manhwa writer until she debuted as a webtoon author on Daum in 2011. Her first webtoon was I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday, Korean title 나는 매일 그를 훔쳐본다 (nanŭn maeil kŭrŭl humch’ŏ ponda),58 and it ran on Daum from 2011 until 2013. She has since then published three more webtoons on Daum’s webtoon portal, Hogu’s Love
(호구의 사랑), The Man Living In Our House (우리집에서 사는 남자 ) and Prejudice Love
(Omansang-kwa p’yŏngyŏn, 오만상과 편견),59 which is still running on Daum.60 Three of her webtoons have been turned into television series: I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday, Hogu’s Love61 and The Man Living In Our House. Both Flower Boy Next Door and Hogu’s Love were broadcasted on TvN,62 while Sweet Stranger And Me63 was broadcasted on KBS2.
3.2 Main Characters In The Webtoon I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday centres around four main characters: Go Dok Mi64, Enrique Geum,65 Han Tae Joon66 and Cha Do Hwi.67 Although a deeper character analysis will follow later in the chapter, for the sake of convenience I will briefly introduce the main characters that will be referred to in the synopsis and webtoon analysis.
56 Kim, “A Case Study of Cross-Media Storytelling.” 57 https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9C%A0%ED%98%84%EC%88%99 58 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday. 59 There is no official English title, so the English title used here is the one used in the webtoons URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/PrejudiceLove 60 “Yu Hyŏn Suk ‘유현숙,’” Taŭm Paekkwa 다음 백과 (Daum Encyclopaedia), n.d., http://100.daum.net/encyclopedia/view/33XXXX509043. 61 Hogu-ŭi sarang, 호구의 사랑 62 TvN is a South Korean cable network owned by CJ E&M. 63 Sweet Stranger And Me is the official English title of the television series based on the webtoon The Man Living In Our House. Uri chib-esŏ sanŭn namja, 우리집에서 사는 남자 64 Ko Tokm,i 고독미 65 Ellikke Kŭm, 엔리께 금 66 Han T'aejun, 한태준 67 Ch'a Tohwi, 차도휘 12
Go Dok Mi – Go Dok Mi is the webtoon’s female main character and the I referred to in the title. She works as a children’s books illustrator from her home. She lives on her own and has no contact with her family and she hates meeting people, so she almost never leaves her apartment. Her only source of human contact is through her university sunbae,68 and this contact is only done via mobile phone. She sends her illustrations to the publishing company and her sunbae through the post office.
Enrique Geum – Enrique Geum is the webtoon’s male main character. He lives in the apartment complex across from Go Dok Mi with his older cousin Han Tae Joon. Enrique used to live with his parents in Spain running a guest house but has come to experience living in Korea and temporarily moved in with his cousin.
Han Tae Joon – Han Tae Joon is the cousin that Enrique lives with and he is a doctor. He is the person that Go Dok Mi starts peeking at every day.
Cha Do Hwi – Cha Do Hwi is Go Dok Mi’s high school classmate and Han Tae Joon’s girlfriend. She runs her own internet shopping mall. She and Go Dok Mi do not get along, in fact she used to bully Go Dok Mi for fun during high school.
3.3 Synopsis As has already been mentioned I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday69 is the first webtoon from writer Yu Hyŏn Suk. It ran on Daum’s webtoon portal from the 11th of June 2011 until the 4th of February 201370. It spans 54 regular episodes excluding the preview episode where the readers were first introduced to the main character Go Dok Mi. The story is mainly told through Go Dok Mi's perspective, however, in later episodes it is also told through the perspectives of Enrique Geum, Cha Do Hwi and Han Tae Joon, although the main narrative is always focusing on Go Dok Mi.
I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday is the story about Go Dok Mi who is living on her own in an officetel71 somewhere in Seoul. She is an illustrator for children’s books and spends most of her time alone in her apartment. She rarely leaves home at all. She lives her life
68 Sunbae (sŏnbae, 선배) means “senior” and is often used with the suffix “nim” which makes it polite: “sunbae-nim.” URL: http://www.dramabeans.com/about/glossary/ ACCESSED: 2018-04-01 69 The Korean title is 나는 매일 그를 훔쳐본다, Nanŭn maeil kŭrŭl humch’yŏ ponda. There is no official English title of the webtoon, but this thesis is using the title I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday, which is being used in the Manhwa version of the webtoon. 70 http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/peekinghim ACCESSED 2018-04-01 71 An officetel (op'isŭt'e, 오피스텔) is a type of studio apartment common in South Korea. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officetel ACCESSED: 2018-04-17 13
spending each and every day exactly the same until on one day she spots the man living in the apartment across from hers and begins to peek at him. As time goes on she keeps peeking at this man and she even starts to change her everyday routine to that of the man in the building across from her. When he eats breakfast, she does, when he cleans the house, so does she, etc.
One day, a new person moves into the apartment that Go Dok Mi has been peeking into. This person is Enrique Geum. He is the complete opposite from the previous tenant, he walks around in the apartment with nothing but underwear on, he does not clean up after himself etc. He discovers that Go Dok Mi is watching his apartment and believing that she is a pervert he goes to confront her. He angrily informs her that he will report her to the police. However, Enrique does not know that Go Dok Mi is a girl, and when he finds this out his anger disappears.72
On one of Go Dok Mi’s rare outings out of her apartment she runs into her old high school classmate Cha Do Hwi, who happens to be the fiancée of Go Dok Mi’s crush, Han Tae Joon. Cha Do Hwi used to bully Go Dok Mi when they were in high school but pretends to be really friendly to her whenever Han Tae Joon is around.
Enrique keeps pestering Go Dok Mi with his friendly attempts at getting closer to her and she starts to open up to him. Go Dok Mi starts to open her heart and venture out of her apartment thanks to Enrique’s persistence and happy outlook on life.
As Go Dok Mi and Enrique keep hanging out, Han Tae Joon also starts to notice Go Dok Mi and he eventually breaks off his engagement with Cha Do Hwi and confesses to Go Dok Mi that he likes her. While this is happening Enrique has also started to like Go Dok Mi and plans an elaborate dinner on Christmas Eve to confess his feelings. Unfortunately for him, his timing is off and instead he gets to witness his cousin Han Tae Joon confessing to her. Go Dok Mi goes on a few dates with Han Tae Joon but eventually realises that the person that she actually likes is Enrique and they decide to start dating each other.
But Go Dok Mi’s issues are still a part of their relationship and when Enrique wants to take her to Spain to meet his parents she reverts back to her old habits of staying inside. They eventually break up and Enrique goes back to Spain.
72 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day. Chapter 5 (http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/12455) 14
Through Enrique’s parting from her, Go Dok Mi is able to overcome her childhood traumas on her own and realises that she wants to be with Enrique. The webtoon concludes with Go Dok Mi going to Spain to meet with Enrique.
3.4 Character Analysis Go Dok Mi – As with many characters in both webtoons, television series and films, a character’s name is usually so much more than just a name. This is also the case for I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day’s main character Go Dok Mi. Kodok (고독, 孤獨) in Korean means loneliness, solitude.73 Enrique Geum even comments on how fitting Go Dok Mi’s name is for her in chapter 9.74
“Enrique: Go Dok Mi? Ha-ha, that’s a really lonesome name. It really fits you. Hahaha.”75
Enrique Geum: In the first part of the webtoon Enrique Geum is portrayed as very carefree without any worries in the world. This plays into the image, or stereotype, which surrounds Koreans who were brought up abroad (this is especially considered to be a trait of Korean- Americans).
73 http://endic.naver.com/search.nhn?sLn=kr&isOnlyViewEE=N&query=%EA%B3%A0%EB%8F%85 Accessed: 2018-04-17 74 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day. Chapter 9 “Dinner with them” (Kŭdŭlgwaŭi chŏnyŏksiksa, 그들과의 저녁식사) , 2011 URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/12914. 75 Trans: Enrique: Go Dok Mi? Haha, that’s a really lonesome name. It really fits you. Hahaha. (Kodongmi? Chintcha kodokhan irŭmine.) Go Dok Mi: It’s because of this I hate telling people my name! (irŏn iyuesŏ… nan chŏngmal irŭm palk'igiga sirhŏttŏn'gŏda.) Han Tae Joon: He’s called Gge Geum. (yaen kkegŭmiraeyo.) 15
Han Tae Joon: Although Han Tae Joon plays a major part of the webtoon story (he is the Him referred to in the webtoon’s title), his character is much less fleshed out than some of the other main characters (even the second main lead Cha Do Hwi is arguably a lot more fleshed out). It isn’t until the final chapters that the readers get to see some of Han Tae Joon’s inner thoughts and feelings.
There are also a lot of things that remain unexplained about Han Tae Joon. It is very easy to see why Cha Do Hwi is attracted to him (her character is self-centred and she wants to show everyone how much better she is): as he is a doctor who has his own apartment and by all explanations given in the webtoon he is an attractive man. But the reader is given little information on what Han Tae Joon sees in Cha Do Hwi. There is no background information on how they met. And even when the two are in the same scenes Han Tae Joon does not seem too attached nor does he seem to appreciate Cha Do Hwi’s behaviour. For example, in chapter 20 when Cha Do Hwi waits for him in the coffee shop and Go Dok Mi runs into him on the way out, he seems to be much more interested in talking to Go Dok Mi than meeting his fiancée.76
4. Flower Boy Next Door 4.1 Introduction Of The Director Flower Boy Next Door was produced by Oh! Boy Project in collaboration with CJ E&M and was directed by Chŏng Chŏng Hwa77 who had also directed the Oh! Boy Project’s first television series Flower Boy Ramyun Shop.78 Flower Boy Next Door was the third instalment in TvN’s Oh! Boy series aiming at a teenage demographic. The Oh! Boy series was a trilogy focused on using “flower boy” visuals to draw in teenage viewers. The two previous television series in the series were: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (2011) and Shut Up! Flower Boy Band (2012).
Chŏng Chŏng Hwa made his directing debut with the movie Lost and Found79 in 2008. Since then he has directed one more film (After School Missions the Movie) and seven television series (with one more scheduled for broadcast in 201880). Among the latter are five for
76 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day, chapter 20 77 http://movie.daum.net/person/main?personId=109114 78 Kkonminam ramyŏn kage 꽃미남 라면가게, 2011 79 Literal title Sweet Lie, 달콤한 거짓말 Talk’omhan kŏjinmal 80 The Sound of Your Heart Season 2, 2018 (Maŭmŭi sori sijŭn ,2 마음의 소리 시즌 2) 16
regular TV broadcast81 and two web series: Choco Bank,82 broadcasted on Naver TV Cast83 and YouTube, and The Best Moment of Resigning84 for a OCN’s85 web/mobile drama channel geared towards teenagers OKSUSU.
4.2 Characters Before analysing the four main characters of Flower Boy Next Door more closely, I decided to give a short introduction of most of the main characters. Not all of them will be analysed but it may be important to know who they are as they are continuously mentioned in the analysis and discussion of the television series.
Go Dok Mi – Go Dok Mi is living a closed off life from all human contact due to scars she got in her childhood. She makes her living as an editor so that she won’t have to have any direct contact with other people.
On one of her infrequent outings she runs into Han Tae Joon who is living in the apartment complex opposite from her and falls in love at first sight. She starts to observe him through the window. Watching him is the only thing that gives colour to her otherwise black and white daily life.86
When Enrique Geum moves into the apartment she has been looking into her entire world changes. He is relentless in tracking her down and making her venture out into the world. At the same time, Go Dok Mi’s neighbour of three years, Oh Jin Rak, starts showing an interest in her life.87
Enrique Geum – Enrique Geum is a famous game director at the world’s leading game studio: Sola (Solla,솔라). He lives and works in Spain but has come to Korea, for the first time in 15 years, in collaboration with a Korean game company to do promotions. But he is also here to meet his first love. He moves in with his cousin Han Tae Joon and discovers Go
81 Flower Boy Ramyŏn Shop, 2011; After School: Lucky or Not, 2013; Flower Boy Next Door, 2013; Bel Ami, 2013; 7 First Kisses, 2016; Choco Bank, 2016 82 Choco Bank, 2016 83 A mobile web application developed by portal site Naver. 84 The Best Moment of Resigning, 2017. Hoesarŭl kumandunŭn ch'oegoŭi sun'gan (회사를 구만두는 최고의 순간, 2017) There is no official English title, the author of the thesis decided to make a refined translation of the Korean title for readability. 85 OCN is a cable network channel and OKSUSU is its mobile television streaming platform. 86 Go Dok Mi Character Sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=1 87 Go Dok Mi character sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=1 17
Dok Mi peeking at him from across the street. As he meets Go Dok Mi he finds her interesting and starts following her around.88
Oh Jin Rak89 – Oh Jin Rak is an aspiring webtoon artist who has been living next door to Go Dok Mi for three years. His latest webtoon work “Zombie Soccer” was rejected by his publisher as it was deemed 100% plagiarism of Enrique Geum’s latest game. His new webtoon stars a lonely character spending all of her days alone in her apartment, and she is strikingly similar to his neighbour Go Dok Mi.90
Cha Do Hwi – Cha Do Hwi is Go Dok Mi’s childhood friend who accidentally runs into her whilst chasing after Oh Jin Rak. She is now the CEO of an online fashion mall and is set on ruining Go Dok Mi’s life once again as she sees her as a rival for Oh Jin Rak’s affection.91
Han Tae Joon – Han Tae Joon is the person whom Go Dok Mi meets on one of her outings and falls in love with when he adopts a street puppy. He is Enrique’s older cousin and works as a doctor. He fell for Seo Young when they met in Spain but he is holding back his feelings because he knows that Seo Young is Enrique’s first love.92
Yoon Seo Young93 – Seo Young is Enrique’s childhood friend who has a crush on his cousin Han Tae Joon. Although she followed Han Tae Joon from Spain to be with him she has been unable to do so because of Enrique’s feelings for her.94
4.3 Synopsis Flower Boy Next Door is the third instalment in TvN´s Oh! Boy series, focusing on a teen-age demographic. The television series is adapted from the popular webtoon I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday by Yu Hyŏn Suk. The television series ran for 16 episodes on TvN during the beginning of 2013.95
The story revolves around Go Dok Mi, an editor who has lived on her own in her flat for the past three years, Enrique Geum, a famous game designer from Spain, Oh Jin Rak, Go Dok
88 Enrique Geum character sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=2 89 Mccune-Reischauer: Oh Jillak, 오진락 90 Oh Jin Rak character sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=3 91 Cha Do Hwi character sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=4 92 Han Tae Joon character sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=5 93 Yun Sŏyŏng, 윤서영 94 Yoon Seo Young character sheet http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys/32/Contents/Html?h_seq=6 95 The first episode was broadcasted on January 7th and the show ran on Mondays and Tuesdays for 16 episodes, with the last episode being broadcasted on 26th of February. 18
Mi’s neighbour who has had a crush on her since she moved in, and Cha Do Hwi, Go Dok Mi’s high school friend turned bully.
Go Dok Mi is a loner who very rarely ventures out of her apartment but during one of her outings she runs into Han Tae Joon, a handsome doctor who happens to live in the apartment building opposite her and falls in love with him at first sight when she sees him adopting a puppy from a cardboard box. She starts to watch his every move through a pair of binoculars. This goes unnoticed until Han Tae Joon’s cousin Enrique Geum, a famous game designer from Spain, temporarily moves in whilst he is doing a joint promotion with his Spanish games company and a South Korean counterpart. This is his official reason for coming to South Korea, but his real goal is to overcome his one-sided first love for his friend Yoon Seo Young who has been in love with Han Tae Joon since he came to visit Enrique in Spain over two years ago, and they both are avoiding dating because of Enrique’s feelings for her.
As he starts to live in Han Tae Joon’s apartment he notices Go Dok Mi looking into the apartment and goes over to Dok Mi’s apartment to confront her, not knowing that she is a girl. Living next door to Dok Mi are Oh Jin Rak and Yu Dong Hoon96. The two are aspiring webtoon artists and Oh Jin Rak had a crush on Dok Mi since they both moved in three years prior. Enrique becomes interested in Dok Mi and tries to get closer to her. Oh Jin Rak sees this but does not notice the sincerity in Enrique and instead thinks that he is bothering her. Because of Enrique’s bright and happy go lucky personality even when Oh Jin Rak is yelling at him and trying to get him to stop bothering Go Dok Mi, Enrique finds things they have in common and attempts to befriend Oh Jin Rak. Go Dok Mi starts to open up thanks to Enrique’s pushy ways and she starts to interact more with her neighbours instead of staying inside all of the time.
4.4 Character Analysis Go Dok Mi: Go Dok Mi has become a recluse by choice after several traumatic events in her childhood. Through flashbacks the viewers are shown her being bullied by her classmates, and through Cha Do Hwi (her friend turned bully) we are told that after her parent’s divorce and remarriage she grew up with only her grandmother.97 For the outsider it is quite easy to see that even though Go Dok Mi herself claims that she likes her life as it is, she is not happy.
96 Yu Tonghun, 유동훈 97 Chŏng Hwa Chŏng, “Iutchip kkonminam 이웃집 꽃미남 (Flower Boy Next Door)” (TvN, 2013). Episode 6 19
Enrique calls her out on this in Episode 7 when they have a fight. There she calls him “a hollow shell”98 based on his internet search key words, referring to his naivety and seemingly trouble-free life. Enrique is deeply hurt by this, as he believes her to have come to understand why he acts the way he does through their interactions. He answers back with what would be her search words and ends with:
“I guess those words do not show a hollow shell. But there’s no warmth of life. Why do you put up those travel pictures, when this house is your entire world?”99
She cuts back at him that she does not need warmth and orders him to leave her apartment. This scene clearly shows the difference in Enrique’s and Go Dok Mi’s characters and it definitely highlights Go Dok Mi’s lonesomeness.
Enrique Geum: Enrique's characteristics have not changed much from the webtoon into the television series. However, that is not entirely a good thing. In the webtoon Enrique is a 20's something Korean who had been brought up abroad coming to Seoul to find his identity and thus his personality is slightly naive and childish.
The Enrique in the television series is also naive and childish, but he is also supposed to be a famous hardworking computer game designer. These two parts do not always match and thus the television series character sometimes seems too naive and innocent for the status he has in life.
Since he is presented as coming from abroad, he is shown laughing out loud and not following social customs that someone who had been brought up in South Korea would most likely be aware of. An example of this is demonstrated in Episode 6. After having been kicked out of his cousin’s officetel, Enrique goes to the Korean dry sauna100 but does not know the social codex of how to behave there. He is reading Manhwa and laughing out loud, taking up space by sleeping right in front of the convenience store.101
98 다 빈껍대기 같은 말들이잖아 (Ta pinkkŏptaegi kat'ŭn mardŭrijana) Flower Boy Next Door, Episode 7, 2013 00:27:25 99 빈껍데기는 아닌데, 근데 삶의 온기라고는 하나도 없잖아. 저 여행 사진들 왜 걸어놔? 어저피 이 집이 새상전부잖아, 안 그래? (Pinkkŏpteginŭn aninde, kŭnde salmŭi on'giragonŭn hanado ŏpchanha. Chŏ yŏhaeng sajindŭl wae kŏrŏnwa? Ŏjŏp'i i chibi saesangjŏnbujana, an kŭrae?) Flower Boy Next Door, Episode 7, 2013 00:28:05 100 찜질방,Tchimjilbang is a type of Korean dry sauna where you pay a fee for the amount of time you spend there. Inside you can buy beverages and snacks and relax or even sleep if you wish. 101 Chŏng Chŏng Hwa. 2013. Flower Boy Next Door, Episode 6, 00:16:40 20
102
As mentioned in Go Dok Mi’s character analysis, a very important scene for the character’s explicit characterisation occurs in episode 7. Go Dok Mi and Enrique have a fight where she calls him a hollow shell and list’s keywords that follow his name when his name appears on the internet.
“I don’t care about keywords made up by people who don’t know me. But you know me, even if just a little. Hollow shell? That was harsh.”103 Enrique is deeply hurt by this, and this moment is one of the first scenes where the viewers get to see the sadness that Enrique carries with him. His naïve and bright image is somewhat of a coping mechanism for him.
Oh Jin Rak: Oh Jin Rak is a fairly mysterious character. He has lived next door to Go Dok Mi for three years and has been leaving post-it notes outside of her door for all this time. But as the television series moves on we learn that he is not who he says he is and that he has changed his name and there are mysterious people in suits looking for him (for clarity only the name Oh Jin Rak will be used in reference to this character).104 Although Oh Jin Rak is supposed to be the second male lead and the viewers are expected to see him as being a contender for Go Dok Mi’s affection, he does not have many nice qualities. He regularly screams at people and has a lot of secrets.
Cha Do Hwi: In most series or films there must be a bad guy. And Cha Do Hwi is filling that role in Flower Boy Next Door. She shows up trying to get together with Oh Jin Rak and by chance runs in to Go Dok Mi. They had been friends since Middle School but in High School Cha Do Hwi started bullying Go Dok Mi because the literature teacher whom Cha Do Hwi
102 http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/01/flower-boy-next-door-episode-6/ 103 Translation by: girlfriday http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/01/flower-boy-next-door-episode-7/ 104 Chŏng Chŏng Hwa. 2013. Flower Boy Next Door, Episode 4 00:33:44 21
had a crush on liked Go Dok Mi more than her. Now that Cha Do Hwi wants a chance with Oh Jin Rak and notices that he seems to be fond of Go Dok Mi, she puts up a fake act to try and ‘solve their differences.’
5. Comparative Analysis Of I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday And Flower Boy Next Door 5.1 Major Differences Between The Webtoon And The Television Series I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday ran on Daum for 54 episodes and was told mainly through the female main character Go Dok Mi but as mentioned in chapter 3.3 in later chapters stories were also told through the perspectives of Enrique Geum, Han Tae Joon and Cha Do Hwi.
Its television series adaptation Flower Boy Next Door ran on TvN for 16 episodes. The television series, too, also focused around Go Dok Mi and was largely told through her perspective, however, it was also largely presented through the character Oh Jin Rak who was not a character from the webtoon but created specifically for the television series.
The biggest difference that can be found in the television series that is not in the webtoon is the addition of new main characters and the introduction of new conflicts. The television series’ producers and writers have also somewhat changed the characteristics of the main characters (as will be further investigated in chapter 6.2).
In the webtoon the main characters were Go Dok Mi, Enrique Geum, Enrique’s cousin Han Tae Joon, and his girlfriend Cha Do Hwi. However, in the television series Han Tae Joon’s character was hardly used at all after the first three episodes and instead the television series focused on the newly added character of Oh Jin Rak. Cha Do Hwi’s character was also changed from Han Tae Joon’s girlfriend to just an old High School classmate of Go Dok Mi. Another big change was that in I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday Enrique Geum was unemployed but in Flower Boy Next Door he was a highly successful computer game developer. In total ca. six regular characters were added to the television series.
Go Dok Mi’s character was also not left unchanged. Her occupation was changed from being a children’s books illustrator to an editor dreaming of being a children’s books author. But the character’s general characterisations in regard to her anxiety and such were mainly kept the same.
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5.2 Differences And Similarities Between The Characters Cha Do Hwi: In the webtoon Cha Do Hwi is Go Dok Mi’s high school classmate and Han Tae Joon’s fiancée, but in the television series her character has instead become Go Dok Mi’s childhood friend. They stopped being friends in high school because of Cha Do Hwi’s behaviour towards Go Dok Mi. Cha Do Hwi liked their literature professor, but the professor had taken a liking to Go Dok Mi and because she was jealous of that Cha Do Hwi made up terrible rumours about her. It was because of that incident that Go Dok Mi started to stay in her room all of the time.
Changing Cha Do Hwi’s role for the television series could be argued to be positive. This is because the viewers are given more background information to why Go Dok Mi turned out the way she did.
Enrique Geum: Enrique’s appearance in the webtoon and in the television series is very similar. The main difference from the webtoon is that the writer’s made Enrique a famous game developer instead of being unemployed as he was in the webtoon. Enrique’s childishness and sincerity that was evident in the webtoon was well captured. It is hard to say if it is because of the writer’s abilities or if it is because of Yoon Shi Yoon’s (the actor who played Enrique Geum in the television series) acting.
Go Dok Mi: Go Dok Mi is also very similarly presented in the television series as she was in the webtoon. The differences are very small. For example, her profession is changed from illustrator to editor. Also, a few elements of her back story are modified, for example her past with Cha Do Hwi.
Han Tae Joon: Han Tae Joon is one of the characters who have undergone most change in the adaptation process. Firstly, he has been demoted from his position as second main male lead, to a mere side character who gets very little screen time. There are not so many scenes in which his personality or thoughts are ever clearly portrayed.
5.3 Comparison Between The Webtoon And The Television Series 5.3.1 Webtoon Chapters 1-5, Television Series Episodes 1-2. I Sneak A Look At His Room Every Day’s first five chapters and Flower Boy Next Door’s first episode share many similarities. It could even be argued that the television series is keeping to the structure of the webtoon almost completely. However, there are major differences as well.
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At first Go Dok Mi, Enrique Geum and Han Tae Joon seem to appear as the main characters, however, it soon turns out that Han Tae Joon is no longer a main character, but his role has been reduced to a minor character whilst a new character, webtoon author Oh Jin Rak, has been added to the television series.
As the television series has added a new main character, it would be only natural to assume that the story of the television series would change accordingly. However, except for a few minor details the story is very similar (at least in the first few episodes). For example, the scene in the webtoon where Enrique Geum finally catches Go Dok Mi peeking into his apartment appears almost identically in Flower Boy Next Door.
105 106 A difference between the webtoon and the television series appears in the follow-up scene: In the webtoon, after Enrique Geum finds out that Go Dok Mi is peeking at, what he believes, him, he attempts to communicate with her through notes that he writes and attaches to the milk she gets delivered to her front door. However, in the television series Enrique never writes Go Dok Mi any notes, instead it is Go Dok Mi’s neighbour Oh Jin Rak who has been leaving sweet notes on her milk cartons every day for three years straight.
105 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday. Chapter 5 “Unwelcome guest” (불청객, Pulch'ŏnggaek), 2011 (URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/12342) ACCESSED: 2018-04-03 106 http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/01/flower-boy-next-door-episode-1 ACCESSED: 2018-04-03 24
107 108
5.3.2 Webtoon Chapters 10 -15, Television Series Episodes 3-5 The differences between the webtoon and the television series start to appear more and more from the third episode of Flower Boy Next Door.
One of the pivotal moments in Enrique’s and Go Dok Mi’s relationship is the trip they take together. This event takes place both in the webtoon and in the television series, but they are played out very differently.
In I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday Enrique coerces Go Dok Mi to take him sightseeing around Seoul. But every location that she mentions he’s already visited (such classic locations as Kyŏngbokkung,109 Insadong and Namsan Tower) and he asks her for a lesser known spot. Go Dok Mi who very rarely frequents the outside does not know what to answer and blurts out the name of a place that she has seen on the television program One Night Two Days.110 Because she has to find out where this place is, she agrees with Enrique that they will go there the next day.111
107 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday Chapter 5 “Unwelcome guest” (불청객, Pulch'ŏnggaek), (URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/12342) ACCESSED: 2018-04-03 Trans. What’s it this time? (Hik! Tto mwŏya?) Isn’t it really stuffy keeping the curtains closed all the time? From your admirer (Chŏgi... k'ŏt'ench'yŏrŭl noŭmyŏn an kapkaphaeyo? Nim-i hŭmmohanŭn cha) 108 Chŏng, “Flower Boy Next Door.”Episode 3 (31:28) Trans: I wish you a day full of happiness! (haengbokhan haru!) 109 Kyǒngbokkung,경복궁 is the biggest and most famous of the four palaces in Seoul. 110 One Night Two Days (Korean title: 1 박 2 일) is a Korean variety show where celebrities travel around South Korea visiting smaller villages and trying out local things. 111 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday Chapter 11 “Irrational number” (Murisu, 무리수), (URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/13121) ACCESSED: 2018-04-30 25
In Flower Boy Next Door, Enrique likewise suggests that they go on a trip together. But his reasoning for this is that they should go on a trip to forget about their first loves.112 Go Dok Mi does not speak up for herself as usual and they end up going on the trip the next day.
Both in the webtoon and in the television series their trip does not go as expected for several reasons. In the webtoon Go Dok Mi tries to get out of the trip by lying that her grandmother is in the hospital. Her plan backfires however as this hurries Enrique along and he starts driving to the hospital where Go Dok Mi’s grandmother allegedly has been admitted.113
In the television series, Go Dok Mi similarly sends Enrique a text message saying that her grandmother is sick and that she has to see her, and telling Enrique to go on the trip alone. 114
In both the webtoon and the television series Go Dok Mi ends up confessing to Enrique that she has lied about her grandmother whilst they are at a rest area. But Enrique does not seem too faced about the situation. Both realise that neither has any money on them and they have no petrol left in their car to take them home. Enrique is able to borrow money from a couple of women by using his charm. On their way back to Seoul they get lost. In the webtoon they end up spending a few days together at an old grandmother’s inn,115 whilst in Flower Boy Next Door they stay there for only one night.
112 Chŏng Chŏng Hwa. 2013. Flower Boy Next Door Episode 3 00:21:24 113 Trans: You said your grandmother fainted. There’s no time to waste. (Halmŏniga ssŭrŏsyŏttamyŏnsŏ kkumulgŏril sigani ŏdi issŏ?!!) 114 Chŏng Chŏng Hwa. 2013. Flower Boy Next Door Episode 3 00:37:39 할머니가 아프셔서 가봐야합니다. 여행 잘 다녀오세요. (Halmŏniga ap'ŭsyŏsŏ kabwayahamnida. Yŏhaeng chal tanyŏoseyo). 115 The word used in the webtoon is 여관, 旅館 (yŏgwan) which is a low-price range hotel, older than other types of accommodation and decreasing in popularity. 26
In the television series due to faulty electricity, Go Dok Mi screams in fear and when Enrique rushes in to see what is wrong they bump into each other and end up kissing. This is a trope that has also been used in many other television series, such as You’re Beautiful116 and The Legendary Witch.117
Enrique apologises profusely but Dok Mi shows barely any reaction and just leaves the room. When she is outside on her own, her eyes start tearing up and the scene goes to a flashback with Go Dok Mi and Cha Do Hwi in their High School uniforms. They are discussing their first kiss and how they will be like. And whilst Cha Do Hwi exclaims that she “Will definitely break up with the person she has her first kiss with,”118 Go Dok Mi fantasises that her first kiss will be with someone whom she stays together with forever.119
Back in Seoul Go Dok Mi tells Enrique to leave her alone and not bother her anymore. However, Enrique keeps knocking on her door to try and get her attention, using different methods: pretending to be sick, having found a hair pin in his car that could be hers, wanting to pay back the debt to the nice people who lent money to them during their road trip. But Go Dok Mi refuses to open the door and Enrique also does not hold back and keeps coming back. Although these actions are done at this stage in the television series and not as it was in the webtoon (where Enrique was doing these things in order to talk to her to get her to stop peeking into his apartment) they do fill the same purpose of getting Dok Mi to open the door to her apartment and in some ways the door to her heart.
5.3.3 Webtoon chapter 49, Television Series Episodes 6-14 As discussed in subchapter 4.2.3 of the present thesis, Go Dok means loneliness. In the webtoon Enrique commented on this in chapter 9120 and similarly, this discussion is also brought up in the television series.
116 Minamisineyo (미남이시네요), SBS 2009 117 Chŏnsŏr-ŭi minyŏ (전설의 미녀), MBC 2014 118 Chŏng, “Flower Boy Next Door.”Episode 5 00:02:13 Nan ch'ŏtk'isŭhan saramirangŭn mujogŏn heŏjil kŏya (난 첫키스한 사람이랑은 무조건 헤어질 거야) 119 Chŏng. Episode 5, 00:02:50 Ch'ŏtk'isŭhan saramhago yŏngwŏni hamkke halgŏya (첫키스한 사람하고 영원히 함께 할거야) 120 Yu, I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday, Chapter 9 “Dinner with them” (Kŭdŭlgwaŭi chŏnyŏksiksa, 그들과의 저녁식사), URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/12914 27
However, this time it does not appear as a comment by Enrique when he first learns her name, but it is a comment by Yu Dong Hoon when he and Oh Jin Rak are out drinking: 121
“Go Dok Mi? Even her name is lonely.” 122
It would have been fairly easy to use the same set up in the television series as the webtoon in regard to Go Dok Mi’s name. A probable reason for this change of character and order of making this statement could be that the director wanted to demonstrate that all characters see the oddness of her behaviour and one way of doing that was by letting a secondary character bring up the connection between her name and her way of living.
In the television series Han Tae Joon makes his final appearance already by the end of episode 8. Seo Young announces that she intends to go back to Spain with Enrique and that whatever she and Han Tae Joon had is over. Pictures from Enrique’s personal phone that have been leaked on the internet of the two of made her realise how hurt Enrique must have felt all this time. She pulls out two plane tickets and asks him to go with her right now. The camera pans in to Go Dok Mi's face and her usually teary eyes seem more teary than usually as she comes to the realisation that Enrique might leave for real.
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It is important to note that this happens already in episode 8. That means, the viewer is getting to the major turning point in the television series already half way in. In the webtoon Go Dok Mi does not have to face Enrique leaving until the last ten chapters. This is evidence for the difference in the storytelling method of a webtoon and a television series. A webtoon can have smaller plot twists and a much more slow-paced character and storyline development
121 Chŏng, “Flower Boy Next Door.” Episode 5. 122독미씨! 이름 한번 참 고독하다. (Tongmi-ssi, irŭm hanbŏn ch’am kodok'ada). Chŏng Chŏng Hwa, Flower Boy Next Door, Episode 5, 2013. 0:03:45 123 Chŏng, “Flower Boy Next Door.”, Episode 8, 2013. 0:49:25 28
whereas a television series needs to catch the viewers’ attention much quicker and keep up the pace to achieve high viewer ratings.
Cha Do Hwi continues her attempts to make Oh Jin Rak fall in love with her by repairing her relationship with Go Dok Mi, that’s why she pretends to be drunk in a bar and calls her.124 She is saying phrases that they used to say together back when they were friends in high school. This is similar to the webtoon in some ways. For example, in chapter 20 Cha Do Hwi used to call Han Tae Joon when she was really drunk and using a lot of aegyo125 with him to get her way.
Similarly, Cha Do Hwi in Flower Boy Next Door is trying to pretend that she is a nice girl and that her and Go Dok Mi's falling out is a mere misunderstanding to make herself look better in front of Oh Jin Rak, whom she is trying to pursue. Go Dok Mi hangs up the phone, but as she is looking over the box of Cha Do Hwi and her memories, she cannot help but feel nostalgic. The director probably chose to have this scene as a saving point for Cha Do Hwi, so that the viewers would not only dislike her, but also realise that she has her redeeming qualities as well.
After Oh Jin Rak goes to the bar to pick up Cha Do Hwi for being too drunk, and she decides to confess her feelings and kisses him. Enrique and Go Dok Mi walks by just a little bit after and Jin Rak pulls away from Cha Do Hwi and announces that he likes someone else.126 This is a pivotal moment because Oh Jin Rak makes his feelings known in the open for the first time and even though he does not specify that it is Go Dok Mi whom he likes, he waits to tell Cha Do Hwi that he likes someone else until he sees Go Dok Mi.
In the webtoon Enrique tries to confess to Go Dok Mi that he likes her during Christmas Eve, but his plans are faltered when his cousin beats him to it and he decides to stand down for the
124 Chŏng. Episode 8, 125 Aegyo (애교, 愛嬌) is defined by urbandictionary.com as a Korean word meaning the “act of people employing a sickeningly cutesy behaviour in an attempt to appear attractive.“ URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Aegyo Naver’s Korean dictionary simply explains it as an act of cuteness http://krdic.naver.com/search.nhn?query=%EC%95%A0%EA%B5%90&kind=all 126 Chŏng, “Flower Boy Next Door.” Episode 8, 00:39:06 29
sake of his cousin and Go Dok Mi, whom he knows has had a crush on Han Tae Joon for a long time. However, in the television series the love confession scenes are played out differently, as Han Tae Joon has already been removed from the picture, and was never treated as a part of the main love story of the television series. In fact, Go Dok Mi is the one who openly tells Enrique that she likes him first:
“It really hurt when you suddenly said you were going back to Spain. I didn’t think I could get hurt again. Why is he bothering me? Why won’t he leave me alone? I thought this to try and hide my feelings. I liked you. I liked you a lot.”127
The director might have decided to use Go Dok Mi as the person confessing instead of Enrique to show the viewer of far she has come in her development. Even the fact that she has the courage to admit to someone that she likes them is a huge leap forward compared to Go Dok Mi in the beginning of the television series.
It could be argued that it was Go Dok Mi that confessed in the webtoon as well, however, she never outright said that she liked Enrique. She merely turned up at the hospital Enrique had been admitted to. Asking him if he had waited for a long time.128
5.3.4 Webtoon Chapters 52-END, Television Series Episodes 15-16 In the webtoon Go Dok Mi tells Enrique that she cannot go to Spain with him and they break up. Enrique waits for Go Dok Mi to tell him “Don’t go” until the last minute but Go Dok Mi is unable to tell him to stay, so he ends up going back to Spain on his own. In an effort to forget about Enrique’s existence Go Dok Mi reverts back to staying in her room all the time. She stays inside all throughout the winter in her dark room missing Enrique. But, when spring comes, she finally decides to fill Enrique’s empty spot in her heart by going out into the world. She joins the gym and starts to learn how to play the guitar. As is a common feature in most South Korean television series when a female lead character wants a change, Go Dok
127 Chŏng.Episode 12, 00:00:40 “Kapchagi sŭp'einŭl toragandago haessŭl ttae nan nŏmu ap'atta koyo. Tasinŭn nae mam an tach'il chul arannŭnde i saram chakku nal kwich'ank'e hae, chebal nal chom naebŏryŏdwŏ irŏk'e nae mam sumgi hanŭnde. Chohaha ko issŏssŏyo. Mani chohahaessŏyo.” (갑자기 스페인을 돌아간다고 했을 때 난 너무 아팠다 고요. 다시는 내 맘 안 다칠 줄 알았는데 이 사람 자꾸 날 귀찮게 해, 제발 날 좀 내버려둬 이렇게 내 맘 숨기 하는데. 좋아하 고 있었어요. 많이 좋아했어요) 128 Yu, ” Mani kidaryŏssŏyo?” (많이 기다렸어요?) Chapter 49 “A Long Day” Kingin haru (긴긴 하루) URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/16711
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Mi also cuts her hair. And not only this, she even participates in her University Alumni gathering.
However, all of this does not have the effect that Go Dok Mi wants. Instead of filling Enrique’s void, she starts to feel closer to him: “It’s strange. The more I try to fill his void, the closer I feel [to him].”129
As her fear of leaving her house and neighbourhood grows weaker, she starts to realise how much she misses Enrique. She wants to see Enrique again and so Go Dok Mi decides to go to Spain to find him.
As soon as she lands in Spain, her passport, money, and the note with Enrique’s address are stolen. However, as if it was destiny, Enrique shows up at that moment and catches the thief.
129 Yu, ”Isang hage-do… kŭrŏk'e ch'aewŏ gamyŏ kalssurok… chŏmjŏm kakkawŏjyŏ onda” (이상하게도… 그렇게 채워가며 갈수록… 점점 가까워져온다.). Chapter 53 “Out into the world” Sesang pakk-ŭro (세상밖으로) URL: http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/viewer/17032 31
Enrique’s and Go Dok Mi’s story ends with Enrique berating Go Dok Mi for not being more careful and for not calling him.
Since Enrique returns to Spain much earlier in the television series than in the webtoon, it can easily be said that the conflict has already been resolved before the two last episodes.
One of the new side plots that was added to the television series is the story about Enrique’s stalker who stole his phone and released pictures of him and Seo Yoon to the gossip press and that tried to break up him and Go Dok Mi. In the last episode it is revealed that this was all done by his Korean Fan club because they believed that Enrique was throwing away his dreams of being an animator to stay in Korea with Go Dok Mi. Conflict and suspension had to be created because the suspense of Enrique’s return to Spain without Go Dok Mi that was used in the webtoon, had already been used once back in episode seven.
But it seems that the writer of Flower Boy Next Door wanted to create a new conflict by introducing a conflict between Go Dok Mi and Enrique’s fan club who wanted him to leave for Spain to fulfil his dream of becoming an animator. This conflict seems to be very unimportant however, as Enrique on several occasions already clearly stated, both to Go Dok Mi and to his fan club, that he had no intention of going back to Spain (again).
The last episode of Flower Boy Next Door takes the viewer one year into the future. Go Dok Mi is waiting in Seoul for Enrique to come back from Spain. But, in contrast to the past, she is now going to the publishing company in person to do work and often spends time together with other people.
Go Dok Mi’s awakening in the television series seems a lot weaker if compared to how it is portrayed in the webtoon. There is a feeling of unfulfillment in her awakening in the television series. This is because in the webtoon Go Dok Mi spends time alone and slowly starts to realise that she does not want to be alone any more. She begins to realise that she wants to be with Enrique as time goes on and is finally able to go to Spain, too. In Flower Boy Next Door, however, all she does is waiting for Enrique to return. This is much less fulfilling from the viewpoint of the viewer and it does not fit in well with how Go Dok Mi’s personality has been portrayed so far.
However, in episode 15 Enrique suddenly starts to live like Go Dok Mi spent time in the first part of the television series (only spending time alone in his room, never answering phone
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calls, etc.) He does this because he believes that it is the best way for Go Dok Mi to start missing him and urging her to come back to him. As mentioned in subchapter 5.3.2, Enrique used to bother Go Dok Mi by knocking on her door frequently, pretending to be sick, etc., to get her to notice him. Episode 15 shows a role change: When Enrique takes on Go Dok Mi’s reclusive approach to life, she takes on the role he had earlier in their relationship.
130 131
I believe that with the help of these scenes the writer intends to show Go Dok Mi getting stronger. However, when compared to the webtoon, there seems to be a lack of impact in these scenes.
As discussed in subchapters 5.1 and 5.2, one of the main changes between the television series and the webtoon is the addition of characters and the change of main characters from Han Tae Joon to Oh Jin Rak, etc. Another major change is that Oh Jin Rak and Yu Dong Hoon (two characters that were not in the original webtoon), are shown as webtoon writers: they are writing the story about Go Dok Mi. Thus, the television series becomes a television series about a webtoon being written. That enables a lot of metafictional132 material to be inserted in the television series.
A very likely reason why director Chŏng Chŏng Hwa decided upon these changes in the webtoon’s remediation might be that the webtoon itself was a very slow, slice of life webtoon with small and slow driven plotlines. This works well with a webtoon that spans over 50 episodes. And even though a 16-episode television series is by no means short (each episode is circa 60 minutes long), because of the television format the viewers have to be constantly
130 http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/01/flower-boy-next-door-episode-5 131 http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/02/flower-boy-next-door-episode-15 132 Metafiction is a form of literature that constantly reminds the reader that what they are reading is fictional. It is mostly associated with the postmodernist movement that evolved after the Second World War. Source: Patricia Waugh, Metafiction – The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction. (London, New York: Routledge, 1984). 33
entertained as to not change the channel, thus a fast-paced plot line is necessary. It is also important to note that the target audience for the television series is teenage viewers and thus adding more good-looking and interesting male characters can be seen as a tool to attract more viewers to tune in. The scenes with Oh Jin Rak and their webtoon editor also add comic value as well as a metafictional value to the television series.
As Enrique’s character was also changed from unemployed to a famous game designer, the television series’ producers needed to change his motivation for coming to South Korea. Adding a first love story that is not fruitful was their solution. It also gives Enrique and Go Dok Mi grounds for something to bond over. In fact, I think, it would not be out of line to say that the two characters have a lot more in common than what is first presented to the viewers.
5.4 Flashbacks As discussed in subchapter 1.3 as well as chapter 3 and chapter 4, flashbacks are utilised to drive the plot and to give backstory to Go Dok Mi’s character and personality. Although there are not that many flashbacks during the stint of the series (not even one per episode), they are good at stimulating the viewers’ reasonings for Go Dok Mi’s reactions.
For example, in episode 5 when Go Dok Mi and Enrique accidentally kiss and she storms out, the camera cuts to a flashback of Go Dok Mi and Cha Do Hwi having a conversation about their (upcoming) first kisses. Whilst Cha Do Hwi looks at it somewhat realistically, Go Dok Mi wants her first kiss to be with: “the person she’ll be together with forever.”133
The first flashback is delivered already in the first episode, when Go Dok Mi recounts how she first met Han Tae-Joon and fell in love with him at first sight. She buys a pair of binoculars to remember the day by and when she comes home to test them out she sees that Han Tae Joon lives across the street from her. Although this is not a major character building or explaining flashback, it gives the viewer a more detailed background to how Go Dok Mi, someone who rarely leaves her apartment, manages to fall in love with someone. The fact that she falls in love with Han Tae Joon at first sight it also telling for the fact that she is not as happy without human interaction as she claims to be.
133 Chŏng, “Flower Boy Next Door.”Episode 5 34
We are thrown in to the second flashback in episode 2134 when Enrique bangs on Go Dok Mi's door. The scene shows Go Dok Mi laying on a couch, presumably in a psychiatrist’s office. She's asked what she hates the most, and she replies, "The sound of pounding on a door/.../My name being called."135 This flashback gives the viewers the first insight to why Go Dok Mi has shut herself in and does not interact with people. It foreshadows the incident that we are later made aware of in another flashback by Cha Do Hwi. This flashback occurs in episode seven when Enrique and Oh Jin Rak asks Cha Do Hwi what happened to Go Dok Mi in high school. Although the flashback that we are shown is from the skewed viewpoint of Cha Do Hwi, it still provides insight to what happened to Go Dok Mi.136
6. Conclusion The aim of my thesis was to analyse the special characteristics of webtoons and television series that allow for an easy and successful media conversion. Although many webtoon to television adaptations have been made, most research on media conversion has focused on webtoon to film or webtoon to game adaptations.
To be able to reveal the characteristics of webtoons and television series for media conversion I chose Yu Hyŏn Suk’s webtoon I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday, and Oh Boy! Projects Flower Boy Next Door. Flower Boy Next Door was chosen because it was one of the first television series that is based on a webtoon. Not only I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday but two more of Yu Hyŏn Suk’s webtoons have been made into television series. Thus I felt that this pairing would be a good basis of my analysis.
To find the characteristics for media conversion the webtoon and the television series were analysed both separately and compared to find the commonalities and the differences. Firstly, webtoons use the story arc method of storytelling. Almost every chapter ends with a cliff hanger, making the reader want to quickly be able to read the next chapter. Television series are constructed in a much similar way. This is done to keep the viewers on their toes and to make sure that they tune in for the next episode.
134 Chŏng. Episode 2. 00:07:28 135 Chŏng. Episode 2. Translation by Javabeans, http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/01/flower-boy-next-door- episode-2/ 136 Chŏng. Episode 7 35
The absolute, most special characteristic feature that the webtoon has and that is unique to its medium is the vertical scroll format. The vertical scroll format creates suspension and gives the reader power over the pace of the story to a certain extent. This is not possible in other media such as manhwa or television series. Sure, the reader and viewer can stop reading or pause the series they are watching, but it is not actively slowing or speeding the pace up. Because the scroll format is such a unique feature that can only really exist with the webtoon as its original work, it is not possible to translate this onto the television screen. Instead, the director has to make use of the actors, the lightning and various different cuts and editing techniques to keep the viewers interested.
When discussing media conversion and looking at the relation between converting a webtoon to film rather than television, because of the innate structure of the film (they are generally free standing and an entire story takes place over a circa two-hour period), there is almost always a need to reduce characters, or at least character interactions and developments, and to reduce plot lines.137 In a television series, however, because they are long running (a short Korean television series is 16 episodes, and many run for over 50 episodes depending on the air time), it is possible to develop and evolve characters as they are in the original webtoons, and it is even possible to add story lines and new characters as we have seen in the case of Flower Boy Next Door where ca. six new characters and many new plot lines were included.
7. Limitations and Further Study My original intention with this essay was to look not only into the characteristics and qualities that make the webtoon suitable for television adaptation, but also to investigate the relation between reader/viewer comments and the changes of the plot lines and characters. For future studies it would be good to examine these points on the basis of singular works or on a comparative level.
When this project started in 2015 there had been very scarce research on webtoon to television adaptations and I thought that this thesis would make up for a gap in the research sector. In recent years a few more research on webtoon to television adaptation have been put
137 Kim, “A Case Study of Cross-Media Storytelling.” 36
out. Of course, because more webtoons have been converted to television series, more researchers are now paying attention to the relation between television and webtoons.
The webtoon that I chose to use for this thesis was written and published quite a few years ago, and the same is true for its television counterpart. One might argue that perhaps it would have been good if I would not only have chosen to look at one of the first webtoons converted into a television series, but also to consider one produced more recently. As I mentioned in chapter 3.1, Yu Hyŏn Suk has two more webtoons that were adapted to television series. One of these adaptations appeared as late as 2015 (Sweet Stranger and Me). Comparing two different adaptations from different years would have enabled me to observe which changes have been made in the development of webtoon to television adaptation. However, this would have been too time consuming and challenging for an M.A thesis, and thus should be left for future research.
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8. References
“100 Years of Korean Comics.” The Korea Times, 2009. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2018/04/135_46093.html. Barber, Katherine. “Story Arc.” The Canadian Oxford Dictionary Of English. Oxford University Press, 2005. http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.sub.su.se/view/10.1093/acref/9780195418163.0 01.0001/m_en_ca0067574. Benshoff, Harry M. Film And Television Analysis. An Introduction To Methods, Theories, And Approaches. New York: Routledge, 2016. Birthe Sjöberg. Dramatikanalys. En Introduktion. Stockholm: Studentlitteratur, 2005. Bloomsbury.com. “Adaptation Theory and Criticism.” Bloomsbury Publishing. Accessed April 28, 2018. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/adaptation-theory-and-criticism- 9781623560287/. Brokenshire, Mark. “Adaptation.” The Chicago School of Media Theory (blog). Accessed April 23, 2018. https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/adaptation/. Ch’ae, Sang Hŭi. “A Study on Media-Conversion of Webtoon : Focusing on Analysis of Secretly Greatly.” The Korean Journal of animation 10, no. 2 (June 2014): 194–210. Chang, Wŏn Ho, and Eŭn Song Chŏng. “Webtoon as a New Korean Wave in the Process of Glocalization.” Kritika Kultura, no. 29 (2017): 20. https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/kk/article/view/KK2017.02908. Cho, Hee Kyung. “The Webtoon: A New Form for Graphic Narrative.” The Comics Journal, 2016. http://www.tcj.com/the-webtoon-a-new-form-for-graphic-narrative/. Chŏng, Chŏng Hwa. “Iutchip kkonminam 이웃집 꽃미남 (Flower Boy Next Door).” TvN, 2013. Dix, Andrew. Beginning Film Studies. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008. Han, Ch’an Wan, and Nan Ji Hong. “The Research of Storytelling for Converting Webtoon Into Movie.” JOURNAL OF THE KOREA CONTENTS ASSOCIATION, February 2011. Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory Of Adaptation. New York: Routledge, 2006. Jin, Dal Yong. “Digital Convergence of Korea’s Webtoons: Transmedia Storytelling.” Communication Research and Practice 1, no. 3 (July 3, 2015): 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2015.1079150. “KBS,” n.d. http://english.kbs.co.kr/about/faq.html. Kim, Daesik, and Jaeha Park. “Korean Financial Crisis and Reform: An Overview.” In International Finance Review, 1:79–122. Bingley: Emerald (MCB UP ), 2000. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569-3767(00)01006-2. Kim, Mi Ra. “A Case Study of Cross-Media Storytelling : Remediation of Webtoon Misaeng to Drama Series Misaeng.” JOURNAL OF THE KOREA CONTENTS ASSOCIATION, August 2015. “Korea Manhwa Contents Agency,” n.d. https://www.komacon.kr. Kuhn, Annette, and Guy Westwell. A Dictionary Of Film Studies [Electronic]. 1st Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pak, Chŏl, In Kyu Kim, and Su Yŏn Chŏn. “The Development Strategy of K-POP through the Improvement of Digital Music Distribution in Korea.” Korea Business Review, August 2013. Pak, In Ha. “A Study On The Characteristics of Korean Webtoon.” The Korean Journal Of Animation, August 2015.
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Song, Yo Sep. “Wept’unŭi Palssaeng Kwajŏng t’amsaekkwa Paljŏnŭl Wihan Cheŏn 웹툰의 발생 과정 탐색과 발전을 위한 제언 (A Study On The Rise Of The Webtoon And Proposal For Further Development).” Korea Institute of Information Technology Magazine 2012.12, no. 10 (4) (n.d.). Accessed July 9, 2018. Stevenson, Angus. “Intertextuality.” Oxford Dictionary Of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.sub.su.se/view/10.1093/acref/9780199571123.0 01.0001/m_en_gb0418010. Sunkki. Ch’ijŭ in Tŏ t’ŭraep 치즈인더트랩 (Cheese In The Trap). Line Webtoons, 2011. Waugh, Patricia. Metafiction – The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction. London, New York: Routledge, 1984. Wŏn, Su Yŏn. Mary Stayed Out All Night. Kakao Webtoons, n.d. https://page.kakao.com/home/46413888. Yi, Hyŏn Jŏng. “User’s Response on Media Conversion from Webtoon to TV Series: A Study of Cheese in the Trap.” Academic association of global cultural contents, April 2017. Yi, Su Ji, and Bong Gwan Chŏn. “The Current Service Status and the Developmental Direction of Webtoon 2.0 : Focusing on the Changing of User Interface and the Applying of Multimedia Effects.” JOURNAL OF THE KOREA CONTENTS ASSOCIATION 15, no. 8 (August 2015): 96–108. Yu, Hyŏn Suk. (Nanŭn maeil kŭrŭl humch’yŏ ponda 나는 매일 그를 훔쳐본다 (I Sneak A Look At His Room Everyday). Daum Webtoons, 2011. http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/peekinghim. “Yu Hyŏn Suk ‘유현숙.’” Taŭm Paekkwa 다음 백과 (Daum Encyclopaedia), n.d. http://100.daum.net/encyclopedia/view/33XXXX509043. Yun, T’ae Ho. Ikki 이끼 (Moss). Daum Webtoons, 2008. http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/ikki.
Internet Sources Bloomsbury https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/adaptation-theory-and-criticism-9781623560287/ Daum Movie Data Base http://movie.daum.net/ Daum Webtoons http://webtoon.daum.net Dramabeans http://www.dramabeans.com Flower Boy Next Door Official Website http://program.tving.com/tvn/mycuteguys Flower Boy Next Door Television Series https://www.viki.com/tv/11165c-flower-boy-next-door
Kakao Webtoons https://page.kakao.com/home/46413888
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KBS http://english.kbs.co.kr/about/faq.html Korea Manhwa Contents Agency https://www.komacon.kr Line Webtoons http://www.webtoons.com/en Mary Stayed Out All Night Official Website http://www.kbs.co.kr/drama/mary Melon https://www.kakao-m.com/pages/business/melon Naver Dictionary https://www.endic.naver.com Naver Webtoons https://comic.naver.com/index.nhn Naver https://search.naver.com/search.naver?where=nexearch&sm=top_sug.pre&fbm=1&ac r=2&acq=%EB%AF%B8%EC%83%9D+%EC%8B%9C&qdt=0&ie=utf8&query=% EB%AF%B8%EC%83%9D+%EC%8B%9C%EC%B2%AD%EB%A5%A0 SK Telecom http://www.sktelecom.com/en/view/introduce/intro.do Spottoon http://www.spottoon.com Urban Dictionary https://www.urbandictionary.com/ Wikipedia https://ko.wikipedia.org
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